Exhibitions

Book Arts in the USA

An exhibition of work by 51 artists; a cultural presentation of the United States of America.

“A single copy of a book is a curious thing. Even when part of a larger edition, it is rarely considered disposable. People have books on their shelves that they haven’t looked at in years, yet they don’t throw them away. A passing glance at the shelf gives a reassuring feeling, a reminder of the knowledge one has absorbed. They are old friends, these volumes, and just seeing them reminds us not only of their stories or facts, but of the time we spent with them.

…

In this exhibit you will see how 51 contemporary Americans are changing the form and materials of the book to suit their personal vision. We call this work Book Arts.” -Excerpt from Book Arts in the USA exhibition catalogue

Support for Center for Book Arts’ visual arts programming is provided, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts, with the support of Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Exhibition Checklist:

Kathleen Amt

Content out of Context
(1987) Handmade paper sewn on tapes, rubber stamp images and words, mixed media construction.

Barton Lidice Benes

Censored Book
(1974) Book tied in rope, nailed, gessoed and painted.

Richard Bigus

Between Two Wars by Kenneth Rexroth
(1982) 5 tipped-in illustrations by Daniel Goldstein of the Iris Press, San Francisco, California. Designed and printed letterpress by Bigus in monotype Van Dijk. Paper handmade by Bob Serpa of Imago Hand Paper Mill. Binding of 1/2 vellum with decorated paper executed by Claudia Cohen and Sara Creighton.

John Eric Broaddus

High Time
(1986) Book with pages cut, painted with acrylic and glitter.

Martha Carothers

Munsell
(1985) Treated book with colored streamers.

Ed Colker

Excerpts from the Essay on Nature
(1985) Text by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Drawings by Ed Colker. Offset lithography by Red Ink. Text in Palatino composed by VPI under the supervision of I. Blumenthal and H. Stalder. Frontispiece on Rives BFK paper. Cloth binding with the assistance of B. Mauriello.

Betsy Davids

Dreaming Aloud, Book Two
(1989) Offset printed from master composed in Adobe Palatino type on a Macintosh computer with Laser Writer printer incorporating scanned video images.

William Drendel

San Sebastiano al Mare
(1985) Fabriano paper, koa wood boards, birch arrows in Ethiopian coptic style binding.

Mindell Dubansky

Crown Jewels, The
(1981) Photobook necklace and earrings of gold tooled Nigerian goatskin and beads in hand decorated paper box lined with crepe de Chine.

Harry Duncan

A Voyage to Cythera
(1987) Text by Ralph Bobb. Intaglio by Priscilla Steele. Printed letterpress by Duncan at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, College of Fine Arts, from Romulus Roman, Lutetia italic and Perpetua types on Mohawk Superfine Text paper. Case bound in cloth at the Campbell-Logan bindery.

Timothy C. Ely

Fusion
(1988) Arches Cover paper prepared with gelatine and pigments, drawings of ink, graphite, watercolor, gouache and gold. Binding of goatskin blind, gold and foil tooled and painted, pastel pigments, brass embellishment.

Dikko Faust & Esther K. Smith

Dress Eclectique
(1986) Drawings by Isabelle Dervaux. Mix and match movable book, hand set Futura type printed letterpress with photoengravings and linoleum cut on ANW drawing and Framing paper.

Ann Fessler

Water Safety
(1989) Offset lithography on coated paper.

Gary Frost

Cut-Away Model, Laced Construction
J.B. Green 1985 handmade paper. Sewn on single and double linen cords and split alum-tawed pigskin and vellum thongs with linen thread. Combination linen headband, Nigerian goatskin with spine cut away to reveal various sewing structures. Vellum tip on one corner, marbled paper covering part of back cover.

Sharon Gilbert

Poison America
(1988) Photocopy. Machine sewn.

Susan Kae Grant

Wink, The Kiss, The Slap, The
(1987) Three flipbooks printed letterpress from Palatino type with mounted photographs, staple bound, covered in rabbit fur, in three-drawer acrylic case.

Walter Hamady

Neopostmodrinism or Dieter Raten Ist Kein Hundeklo or Gabberjabb Number (6)
(1988) Letterpress on handmade Shadwell paper from numerous typefaces.

Jack Hirschman

Ant Pudding
(1988) Vinyl leaves with chain binding, hand lettered with marking pen, drawings in pen, crayon and paint.

Raymond Holbert

Daily Reminder
(1983) Completed calendar diary with collaged photos and clippings, drawings in ink and colored marker pens.

Andrew Hoyem

Captivity Narrative of Hannah Duston
(1987) Text by Cotton Mather, John Greenleaf Whittier, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau. Printed from handset and monotype Kennerley Bold with Neuland Inline display types on Rives heavyweight mouldmade paper. 35 woodblock prints by Richard Bosman. 1/4 linen binding with Sugikawashi paper. Designed, printed and bound under the supervision of Hoyem.

Hedi Kyle

A B C
(1988) Ink, watercolor and collage in concertina construction.

Edna Lazaron

Terrorism
(1985) Two scrolls of collaged mixed media mounted on unbleached muslin in ceramic container with nails and cork top with miniature cap pistol.

Stephanie Brody Lederman

Loma’s House
(1989) Acrylic, pastel, graphite, collage on taped and stapled cardboard.

Nora Ligorano

World Without End
(1989) Globe with Nigerian goatskin, paste papers, velvet, international currencies and other collaged media.

Joni Mabe

Book of Hair, The
(1982) Paper, handmade with embedded hair, bound with hair, letterpress title and colophon in handset Caslon type, wood box with glass lid, nest of hair, hairnet and comb.

Antonio Martorell

Versos de Ernesto Cardenal
(1971) Woodblock prints and calligraphy on Japanese handmade paper.

Barbara Mauriello

Women of the Bible: From Abigail to the Queen of Sheba
(1985) 16 cubes covered in remnants of an 18th century illustrated book with handwritten text on paper accordion inside each cube, all in a cloth folding box.

Kim Merker

Manhattan
(1989) Poetry by Amy Clampitt, woodcuts by Margaret Sunday, printed letterpress from handset Van Dijk on Rives heavy paper.

Richard Minsky

Crisis of Democracy, The
(1980) Bookbinding of sheep, title in gold, with barbed wire wrapping. Text by Crozier, Huntington and Watanuki for the Trilateral Commission, published by New York University Press, 1975.

Celia A. Muñoz

Which Came First?
(1988) Text handwritten and letterpress from handset Univers type on Curtis rag paper and Gekkeikan Homespun. Box of book cloth, rubber stamped. 1982-1988.

Teresa Pankrantz

Bindings
(1986) Printed letterpress from handset Baskerville type on Chiri Japanese paper, bound in accordian fanfold between bamboo covers with silk thread in cloth box lined with decorated paper.

Mary Jo Pauly

Nouvelle Neighborhood
(1987) Pop-up book of gouache and colored pencil on cast paper.

Jo Anna Poehlmann

Drawing in a Nutshell
(1985) Hand watercolored and pencil lettered stone lithograph on accordion folded one-ply Strathmore paper in walnut shell with other nuts in burlap sack.

Sonya Rapoport

Digital Mudra
(1988) Photographs and computer graphics on cover paper mounted on foamcore, bound fanfold with plastic tape, in plastic box.

Don Rash & Pam Rash

Guest Book
(1988) Dresden Ingres paper bound in goatskin with inset glass eyes, hollow back construction, handsewn silk endbands, goatskin hinges, endleaves marbled by the binders.

John L. Risseeuw

Politics of Underwear, The
(1973) Letterpress from handset Optima type, offset lithography and embossment on handmade paper.

Marilyn R. Rosenberg

Kaleidoscope
(1983) Multidirectional accordion fold structure, offset printed, Curtis rag paper, die cut, hand trimmed, folded and sewn into reflective mylar covers.

Leonard Seastone

Good Movies; A Film Noir in Book Form
(1988) Tideline Press, Purchase, New York. Flatbed lithography on Mohawk Superfine paper, half leather binding with printed papers and foil stamped spine.

Susan Joy Share

Midnight Puzzle
(1989) Paper, cloth, board, acrylic and photos.

Clarissa T. Sligh

What’s Happening with Momma?
(1988) Accordion book silkscreen with acrylic ink on 100% rag Coventry paper; accordion steps on each page printed letterpress in Century Schoolbook type on 100% rag Stonehenge paper. Produced at Women’s Studio Workshop.

Jan Sobota

Ruce
(1986) Text (in Czech) by Otokar Brezina (title translates as “Hands”). Published by Sobota in 1981, letterpress on cotton fiber paper. Bound by Sobota in sheepskin over balsa wood.

Buzz Spector

Silence
(1989) Found copy of “Silence” by John Cage. Pages torn from original and reattached to spine.

Pamela Spitzmueller

Copper Desert
(1988) Ink and watercolor on charcoal paper. Handwritten text. Sewn to copper accordion structure with nylon monofilament line.

Carol Sturm & Doug Wolf

Japan: Prose of Departure
(1987) Text by James Merrill. Printed letterpress from handset Bembo type on T. H. Saunders handmade paper. Sewn in wrappers of Richard de Bas handmade paper.

Robert Tauber

Inangaro: The Legend of the Coconut
(1988) Boxed suite of 4 books. A Polynesian folk tale told to M. Charlotte Johnson by Makiuti Tangia, a Maori from the Cook Islands. The box is designed by Greg Campbell incorporating coconut shell in the cover, lined with flax, abaca and coir fiber paper made at the Logan Elm Press, and constructed at the Campbell-Logan Bindery, Inc. Rod Mills, Russ Knight and Robert Farber assisted in typesetting, papermaking, printing and binding.

Erica Van Horn

Speculations
(1982) Painted wood “house” containing 9 mixed media folders 9.5 X 9.5/each.

Claire Van Vliet

Aunt Sally’s Lament by Margaret Kaufman
(1988) Letterpress on Fabriano, Barcham Green, Twinrocker and MacGregor handmade papers. Designed by Van Vliet based on a structure developed by Hedi Kyle and made with Linda Wray. Box covered in quilting cloths made by Judi Conant, Guildhall, Vermont.

Stella Waitzkin